Washington, D.C. Despite Senate support for a permanent extension of Section 245(i) and
an overwhelming vote on the floor of the House of Representatives in opposition to
eliminating this vital provision, Congress today only partially extended this program. The
Republican leadership had the opportunity to permanently extend Section 245(i).
Unfortunately, the anti-immigrant wing of the Republican Party, led by Reps. Lamar Smith
(TX), Dana Rohrabacher (CA), and Brian Bilbray (CA), succeeded in intimidating enough of
their colleagues to block a permanent extension.

House Democrats, led by Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (MO) and Reps. Howard Berman
(CA) and David Obey (WI), were among the strongest supporters of the provision. Because of
their hard work and the support of a substantial number of Republicans lead by Rep.
Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL), Section 245(i) was extended beyond its original sunset date of
September 30, 1997. Due to the concerns raised by the immigrant and business communities,
pro- immigration advocates, and Congressional supporters in both parties, the
restrictionists in Congress were forced to offer significant concessions that will allow
people with existing U.S. family and business ties to adjust their status in this country,
as long as they file qualifying petitions with the Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS) by January 14, 1998. The deal also would allow employment-based applicants in the
future to adjust in this county if they have not been out of status for more than an
aggregate of 180 days.

"While we believe Section 245(i) merited permanent extension, it is significant
that Republican leadership recognized at the end of this debate that they needed to
provide some important concessions. Otherwise, they would risk being labeled as
anti-family and anti- business," said Jeanne A. Butterfield, AILA’s Executive
Director. "That, plus determined support from the Administration, helped secure these
important concessions," concluded Butterfield.

"The Republican leadership today was done a disservice by Lamar Smith and Dana
Rohrabacher," said Judith Golub, AILA’s Director of Advocacy. Pointing to the
numerous distortions and outright lies put out by Reps. Smith, Rohrabacher, and others,
Golub said, "While the concessions we obtained are important, Republicans needlessly
shot themselves in the foot. They were on the verge of proving to America and immigration
communities nationwide that Republicans care about immigrants. Despite the good efforts of
Rep. Diaz- Balart and fellow Republicans like Reps. Ben Gilman (NY), Chris Smith (NJ), and
Henry Hyde (IL), restrictionist Republicans, while forced to agree to the concessions, had
too much influence over the final outcome. Republicans thereby did not demonstrate
commitment to "family" values, that would keep parents together with their
children and husbands with their wives, and the needs of business to compete in a global economy."